Using computers has become a ubiquitous activity in today's society. Many users require constant access to their computing devices to maintain their professional or personal lives. For some users, this means that they are tethered to their desktop computers all day long. For other users, this means that they constantly carry laptop or notebook computers that they can access. Still other users carry personal-digital assistant (PDA) devices or cellular phones all day long.
All of these solutions, however, present disadvantages to users to some degree. Users who rely solely upon desktop computers cannot access them when they are away from the places in which the desktop computers are located. Users who rely upon laptop or notebook computers have to lug them around everywhere they go. Even the latest generation of such portable computers are still somewhat unwieldy and heavy to be constantly carried. PDA devices and cellular phones are easily misplaced and lost, and some of these devices are overly large and difficult to store.
A new field of computers and input devices for computers that attempts to overcome these difficulties is the wearable computer or input device. A wearable computer is a computing device that a user literally wears on his or her body, as if it were, for example, a piece of clothing, a piece of jewelry, or a wristwatch. A wearable input device is an input device for a computer that a user wears on his or her body. Current wearable computer and input devices designs, however, are less than ideal. For a wearable computer or input device to be truly useful, the user should be able to easily view and input data when desired, but the wearable computer or input device should otherwise not get in the way of day-to-day activities. However, current wearable computer and input device designs are often unwieldy, and fail these design objectives, either not allowing the user to both easily view and input data, and/or not being readily put out of the way when not needed.
For these and other reasons, therefore, there is a need for the present invention.